This Friday we have a very busy day. The Pentecost Mass is at St Mary’s Church at 9.00am and we encourage you to join with us for this celebration. In the afternoon our middle and senior school are competing in our annual cross country. Again, please come and support your children. Fingers crossed the weather will be kind to us. It might be useful to check class blogs. If the event is postponed we will let you know through the notifications on our phone app, facebook, school website and twitter. If postponed the Cross Country will run on Monday at the same time and venue.

Please note: THERE WILL BE A SAUSAGE SIZZLE THIS FRIDAY. All children will get their sausage order at midday on Friday.

We would like to invite our Pasifika families to a meeting to be held in room 15 TONIGHT, Wednesday from 6-7pm. We highly value our Pasifika community at St Mary’s School and would like to be able to share with you our current goals and successes for our Pasifika students. This meeting will also be an opportunity to gain parent voice and feedback on how we can better meet the needs of our Pasifika students and families. I encourage all Pasifika parents to attend this meeting.

At the beginning of the year our Teacher Only Day with Nathan Mikaere-Wallis was cancelled due to poor weather in Wellington and a flight cancellation. Nathan is a Child Psychologist and an international speaker, with a focus on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. Nathan has spoken to many school staffs and parent groups. We have been given an opportunity to have Nathan with us in Rotorua on Friday June 1st along with Kawaha Point School staff. Friday June 1st will therefore be a Teacher Only Day. It is the Friday before Queen’s Birthday. Mary-Ann Roling from the Glenholme After-School group will be running a programme at our school. If you would like to enrol your child with Mary-Ann please contact her on 347 0709 or 0211 215599. I apologise for the short notice, but this is too good an opportunity to miss for our staff.

Presently we are reviewing our School Values. Staff, BOT and some children have had an input into what these values might look like at St Mary’s. I would like some feedback from parents too. I would like to meet interested parents TOMORROW, Thursday at 2.30pm in our staffroom with a second opportunity again at 3.30pm. It would be great if you could come to one of these meetings and give us some feedback. See below for access to policies.

We have a number of our children making their First Holy Communion and Confirmation at the 10.00am Mass on June 10th. Please pray for these children and their families as they make this very important step in their journey of faith.

Enrolment for the next Sacramental Programme will commence some time in Term 4.

Have a great week everyone.RegardsDavid Macmillan, Principal.

Our school website and app now have a more user friendly calendar where you can see what is coming up at school. Be sure to check it out to stay informed. Click here for link

SCHOOL POLICIES:This term we are reviewing our policy around ‘Reporting to Parents’. If you would like to view the policy and make some comments please follow the instructions below:Visit the website http://stmarysrotorua.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htmEnter the username (stmarysrotorua) and password (3010).Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.Read the policy.Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.Select the reviewer type "Parent".Enter your name (optional).Submit your ratings and comments.

If you don't have internet access, the school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.

WE ARE STILL HOLDING PLATES IN THE OFFICE BELONGING TO PARENTS WHO HAVE PROVIDED MEALS FOR SICK FAMILIES. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO COLLECT PERSONALLY PLEASE RING THE OFFICE AND WE WILL SORT SOMETHING OUT WITH YOU. THANK YOU

ALSO IN OFFICE - CHILD'S ZIPPERED GREY JACKET, MERINO SILK, SIZE M.

SCHOOL LUNCHES :__School lunches are available from Pita Pit, Rotorua on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Lunches need to be ordered online via www.lunchonline.co.nz. Children need to come to the School Office at lunchtime to collect their ordered lunch.

On Fridays the children are able to buy a sausage and a juicie. This is an initiative of the PTA. Children place their orders with their own class teacher and orders are delivered to their class at lunchtime.Sausages $1.50 - Juicies $1.50

From Our Director of Religious Studies:

Talofa EveryonePentecost is the Christian festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension. Our Pentecost Mass is Friday the 25th at 9:00am. Our wonderful new junior block was blessed last week. What an amazing space for learning. We are fortunate that we are able to provide this facility at our school. Thanks to all involved for making this a reality and the months of planning and hard work that have gone into this.

Released for Mother’s Day 2018- “Why Mother’s Matter”. Mothers have a read. This document provides a broad and well documented overview of the distinct way mums love, care for, protect and teach their children, drawing from the last few decades of leading research from the worlds of professional child psychology and child-development science.

FYI:Retreat in Everyday Life

“The Christian life is a constant battle. We need strength and courage to withstand the temptations of the devil and to proclaim the Gospel. This battle is sweet, for it allows us to rejoice each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.” [Pope Francis - Gaudete Et Exsultate, 158] Fr. Richard Shortall SJ, Papal Missionary of Mercy, is coming to the Hamilton Diocese upon the invitation of Bishop Steve. Fr. Richard is offering a Directed Retreat and Spiritual Direction to help us grow in the Christian life.Directed Retreat at Tyburn Monastery, Ngakuru:Beginning Sunday June 10 at 6pm and finishing on Thursday June 14 at 1pm.Cost: $55/night ($220). Spiritual DirectionFr Richard is available for one hour appointments at the following locations during the times listed.June-6, Cathedral of the BVM, Hamilton (9am - 4pm)June-7, St. Mary of the Cross, Rotorua (9am - 4pm)June-8, St. Mary Immaculate, Tauranga (9am - 4pm) If you would like to join the Directed Retreat, or to book an appointment for Spiritual Direction please express your interest ASAP (places are limited) by emailing or calling Robert Garan - robertg@cdh.org.nz or call 027-6274475.

Blessings,

Bernie Hall-Director of Religious Studies

ONLINE UNIFORM SALESUNIFORMS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE VIA OUR WEBSITE USING PAYPAL.WE AIM TO FILL THE ORDERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BUT PLEASE ALLOW AT LEAST 3 DAYS FROM TIME OF ORDERING TO RECEIPT OF GOODS.

Arts in MotionArts in Motion practice is on Wednesdays. Lyrical and Jazz are at 7.30am until 8.30am. Hip hop is after school until 4pm. Check out our Arts in Motion blog to keep up to date. Follow the blog so the messages get sent straight to your email. Any further information please contact Shanelle McCashin Ph 021 02657995

School Absences:If your child is away from school for any reason, please notify our office staff using one of these options :Phone 3481 701Link to website:See quicklink on website (top of page) on website

Change of Address/Contact Phone numbers:We always appreciate notification if your personal contact details have changed. Please notify the office or email : dorothyj@stmarysrotorua.school.nzThe school newsletter is available on Wednesday afternoons. A hard copy is always available from front reception if required - otherwise you will be emailed a copy.

Sports News

Kia Ora Sports Parents,

Monday Netball, was cancelled due to the weather. The draw has since come out and is the same for the 28th May as it was the 21st May.

If you haven't already, DOWNLOAD the school app, this is great for looking up the game draws and for notifications for your child/ren sports.

All sports TOPS are available from the School Office Tuesday - Friday 10am to 3:15pm

St Mary's App - Download Now

Parents, if you don't have the School App please make sure you download this so you do not miss out on sports updates. With winter sports here and the rain that is expected over winter months it pays to know when there are cancellations. Please ensure you click (under settings) the sports your children are participating in. Winter Sports are Football, Netball, Miniball and Hockey.

Football

Check on the website for your child's team.

The draw for Saturday 26th May is up on the website.

Football Uniform is: Maroon PE ShortsSt Mary's Sports Socks (Blue and Maroon)Football Top (to be collected from the Front Office) I have 30 kids who have not collected their top yetChild's own Football Shoes

I have a range of football boots that have been donated. If your child needs boots, please let Trudy (Sports Coordinator) know.

Netball

The Draw is up- on the website for both this Saturday and next Monday.

Your child can most definately wear warm clothing before and after a game, but please stick to the uniform when playing.

Miniball

Miniball Teams are up on the St Mary's website, please check what team your child is in.

The miniball draw is up on the website for Friday 25th May and Monday 28th May.

Miniball Uniform is:St Mary's Maroon PE ShortsSt Mary's Singlet (to be collected from the Front Office) if you played touch then you will be playing in the same singlet.Child's own court shoes / Sneakers

This year Juniors will play on a Monday and Middles and Seniors will play on the Friday. Please check website for teams and draws.

Hockey

Funsticks to be at the turf at 12pm

This week, Hockey are on DUTY.

There are a number of helpers needed. We do this only once for the season.

Basically the maxi teams play earlier so it is expected that those parents help earlier in the day, the Fun Sticks play 12-1pm so it is expected that those parents help later in the morning/early pm. The mini parents are in between and as such can help then!

To make it work Dave and Lou Blundell will need

Baking to sell!

Some people arriving at 8am to help with set up of turfs.A core group of people able to be there for about 2hrs each to Run the BBQ and cake stall (0830-1030 and 1030-1230)Do the table (score cards and hooter timer) also 0830-1030 and 1030-1230Do odd jobsCut up onions prior

Another busy time is at just before 11am where we change the turf set ups (requires 6-8 adults, 4 at a pinch (helpers need to be there 10:45 so we can explain what to do) and then again at 1pm to pack everything away.Year 6 kids can help on the BBQ and cake stall after games if they are keen, they are also good at helping with setting out the little goals at 11am.

Baking for the cake stall can be dropped at school friday and Lou and I can then pick it up and take it to turf in morning. Otherwise it needs to be at turf between 0830 and about 9am.

MINI DRAWGames in this Mini grade will run from 11:00am to 12:00pm. We have four pools of seven. This means seven weeks in Round 1. Six of the weeks they will play teams in their own pool and one week they will play a cross-over games with a team from another pool. The draw will be up on the BOP Website today.http://www.bophockey.co.nz/ROTORUA-JUNIOR-HOCKEY/DRAWS-RESULTS

MAXI DRAWGames in the Maxi grade run from 8:30am to 11:00am. To move through the grading pools a bit faster and make sure for the first three weeks all our keen maxi beans are playing hockey we are going to run 20 minute games with a 5 minute change over. This means we can get through two games on May 12th, May 19th and May 26th. There will be no byes. If you are in Pool A you will have two games each week. The other pools will have two weeks of two games an one week where there is only one game. We have blocked the games so teams may have one game right after the other but they will not be waiting around for ages to play a second game. The draw will be available on the BOP Hockey Website today: http://www.bophockey.co.nz/ROTORUA-JUNIOR-HOCKEY/DRAWS-RESULTS

Gymnastics

Rippa Rugby 2018

Both teams have been named for Rippa Rugby and all parents should know practice times.

Year 5/6 are Tuesday's 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the St Mikes Rugby Fields

Year 3/4 are Thursday's lunchtime and Friday afterschool. Both practices will be on the school fields.

The tournament is Wednesday 6th June at the Westbrook Rugby Fields.

Squash

BOP Primary Inter-School Squash Tournament

Date: Thursday 14th June 2018Venue: Geyser City Squash, RotoruaEntries close: Thursday 7th June (no late entries will be accepted) Entries to: Trudy - Sports Co-ordinatorCost: $15 per playerTime: 8.45am - All teams to arrive by this time, 9am - Match play starts, 3pm - Finish (approx.) Prize giving will be after the last match of the day

St Mary's Ski Team

Simon Nicholson and Fee Teat are putting together a Ski Team (6) to represent St Marys at the NIPS - North Island Primary School ski champs that take place on the Monday 27th-30th August. We would love to hear from families whose children that have the ability of riding a T-Bar and beyond.